Wenning leads Ball State past Virginia 48-27

Published: Saturday, October 5, 2013 at 06:39 PM.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — In the battle of offense versus defense, this time the guys with the record of moving the ball and putting up points won.

Ball State dismantled Virginia's previously stout defense, rolling to 29 first downs and 506 total yards in a 48-27 victory Saturday.

The Cavaliers came in giving up an average of 299 yards per game, but the Cardinals eclipsed that mark early in the third quarter behind Keith Wenning, whose 72-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Williams in the fourth period made him Ball State's career passing leader. Wenning came in with 8,904 yards and needing 330 yards to break Nate Davis ‘school mark. He finished 23 of 41 for 346 yards and two touchdowns.

And perhaps more impressively, he was only sacked once by a Virginia defense that was 10th in the nation with 3.25 per game.

Jahwan Edwards gave Wenning plenty of help on the ground, running for 155 yards and three touchdowns for an offense that was averaging 40 points per game — second most through five games in the history of the Mid-America Conference school.

“I am usually not speechless, but I am pretty darn close,” said Ball State coach Pete Lembo. “We have had three BCS wins the last two years, but nothing compares to this, coming on the road to Virginia, beating an ACC opponent, a team with the caliber athletes that they a have.”

Virginia coach Mike London said Ball State (5-1) “outplayed us in every aspect” and deserved to win, but he also was frustrated that the Cavaliers gave Ball State plenty of help.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — In the battle of offense versus defense, this time the guys with the record of moving the ball and putting up points won.

Ball State dismantled Virginia's previously stout defense, rolling to 29 first downs and 506 total yards in a 48-27 victory Saturday.

The Cavaliers came in giving up an average of 299 yards per game, but the Cardinals eclipsed that mark early in the third quarter behind Keith Wenning, whose 72-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Williams in the fourth period made him Ball State's career passing leader. Wenning came in with 8,904 yards and needing 330 yards to break Nate Davis ‘school mark. He finished 23 of 41 for 346 yards and two touchdowns.

And perhaps more impressively, he was only sacked once by a Virginia defense that was 10th in the nation with 3.25 per game.

Jahwan Edwards gave Wenning plenty of help on the ground, running for 155 yards and three touchdowns for an offense that was averaging 40 points per game — second most through five games in the history of the Mid-America Conference school.

“I am usually not speechless, but I am pretty darn close,” said Ball State coach Pete Lembo. “We have had three BCS wins the last two years, but nothing compares to this, coming on the road to Virginia, beating an ACC opponent, a team with the caliber athletes that they a have.”

Virginia coach Mike London said Ball State (5-1) “outplayed us in every aspect” and deserved to win, but he also was frustrated that the Cavaliers gave Ball State plenty of help.

The Virginia defense committed a number of costly penalties that helped the Cardinals keep the chains moving. The Cavaliers (2-3) had a personal foul on Ball State's first scoring drive, a roughing the passer penalty against Eli Harold that negated his sack and led to a Cardinals field goal, and facemask and offsides infractions that didn't directly cost Virginia points but flipped field position just ahead of a couple of costly Virginia turnovers.

“We just didn't play very smart today,” London said. “We'll look at who the offenders are, and obviously that matters.”

Virginia's offense had its share of problems, too, despite showing considerably more juice than it had in the previous week's 14-3 loss to Pittsburgh. Quarterback David Watford overthrew open receivers near the goal line early in the game, a long touchdown pass to freshman first-time starter Keon Johnson was nullified by a holding penalty, and an apparent 81-yard TD pass to Tim Smith was called back when another freshman making his first start — tackle Eric Smith — was called for being an ineligible receiver downfield.

Virginia ended up with 13 penalties for 93 yards, while Ball State was penalized just once for 15 yards. Virginia also had four turnovers to Ball State's zero.

“At the end of the day it comes down to playing relatively mistake-free football, which we did today,” Lembo said.

Wenning also ran for a score, and his long TD pass to Williams not only put him atop the school passing chart but sent many of the less than two-thirds capacity crowd of 38,228 scurrying for the exits. Wenning credited his success Saturday to his line.

“The strength of their defense is the defensive line and I think our offensive line played their butts off,” Wenning said. “I am so proud of those guys. They gave me enough time to pick them apart a little bit and we created some big plays with the running and passing game.”

Virginia defensive tackle Brent Urban said quick throws made it tough to get pressure on Wenning.

“It's just tough to play against those continual short passes,” he said.

Virginia entered the game confident in its defense but looking for more from its offense, starting two new wide receivers after the coaches counted 10 drops in last week's game. Whether it was the personnel shake-up or just a general sense of urgency, it seemed to work to some extent as the Cavaliers gained 459 yards. Watford threw deep more often than in previous games, preventing Ball State from crowding the line to stop a running game that generated 236 yards — 104 by Kevin Parks, who had two touchdowns. But Virginia couldn't overcome the mistakes.

“It's frustrating, but we have to keep grinding,” Parks said.

Virginia led 17-7 after Watford's 27-yard touchdown run, which was initially ruled short but was overturned after video review confirmed he nicked the pylon with the ball. The Cardinals scored the next 17 points to take the lead on Wenning's 1-yard run before Parks scored from 2 yards out to tie it at 24.